


Vigilante

by vodka_and_some_sass



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of Rape, Murder, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vodka_and_some_sass/pseuds/vodka_and_some_sass
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	Vigilante

Cora felt the rage bubble up inside her as the coroner wheeled the body away. She wasn’t going to have to read the toxicology report to know what it would say. It was the same as the last six they had found. _Raped and murdered._ And she knew exactly who had done it. It had their signature all over it. She turned to her partner, Agent Kent with an accusing eye.

“Why aren’t we making the damn arrest already? We all know who did it!”

He put his large hand on her shoulder, steel grey eyes looking into her fiery brown ones. “We need concrete evidence that it was them. Let’s hope we can get a DNA match off this one.”

“Don’t call her ’ _this one’_! She has a name! A family! Maybe even a boyfriend! She’s not just another check box we can cross off!” Cora didn’t wait for a reaction before stalking off to her government issued car and driving back to her apartment. She wouldn’t be required to work on the case till the next morning, after the post-mortem had been done.

As the evening sun set over the city, Cora seethed. She knew what everyone was thinking.

_‘Poor thing. It’s personal to a degree. She’s had a run in with them before.’_

_'I know you hate them for what they did to you, but you can’t storm into a court case with no evidence.’_

_'Maybe you should sit this one out.’_

She took a long drag of her cigarette, letting the smoke fill her lungs and throat. Allowing it to trickle out of her nose as she exhaled slowly, she made up her mind about what had to be done.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

“This is the third body we have found. These guys are the world’s deadliest mafia and someone is taking them out like flies. They’re obviously being targeted. But no one knows who or why. We’ve got a smart and resourceful killer on the loose.” Tony Stark had never seen murders this clean, and he’d seen quite a few. But the fact that the government had called the Avengers in on this one after the first killing itself was a testament on how bad the situation was.

“I think the word vigilante is better than killer. Is there any evidence that it’s one person?”

It was Loki who studied the well built government agent across them. The Avengers knew Cora because she was Callista’s closest friend and was often seen waiting for her outside the compound. But he took this time to really study her instead of glancing over her and focusing on other things. Her hair was cropped to a buzz at the sides with it long at the top, flopping over on the right, making it look like she had a regular short hair cut. Her full sleeve jacket was zipped to her chin, but he could see hints of a tattoo curling behind her ear and peeking out from her wrists to her palms. Her brown eyes were sharp, but emotionless, dead even. When Tony had tried to access her files, he had found that they were restricted. The only information they received was from Agent Ross, who simply told them they could trust her. Loki couldn’t help but feel like there was something off about her. He wasn’t the God of Lies for nothing.

“There’s no evidence as such that it was one person. But it seems like it is. Victims aren’t randomly selected. They’re all from the East Mafia. All the murders were different. We have blunt force trauma, a slit neck and a stabbing. This is something personal to the killer.” Steve said.

“Vigilante,” Cora corrected. “Maybe it’s just the West Mafia expanding territory, or sending a message.”

“Your boss doesn’t seem to think so.” Loki stated, as a matter of fact, keeping his eyes trained on the young agent. _He had to find out more about her._ She just shrugged.

“You don’t really seem perturbed.” Natasha Romanov knew who Agent Cora Haley McKinnon had been before she was passed as an agent for the Bureau. She had been the one to find the child assassin locked up in a cage in the East Mafia stronghold with nothing except an extensive knowledge of how to kill and how to get away with it.

Cora felt the suspicion rise within Agent Romanov. The Black Widow had been the one to find her, yes. But she didn’t know what it was exactly that had made Cora a prodigy killer, even better than the Widow herself. Subtly settling her breathing, Cora thought of trust, what it felt like to trust someone and projected that idea throughout the room.

“Well, we’ve been trying to lock up these assholes for the seven rapes and murders that had been a regular thing till these murders started. We can’t because of red tape formalities. This vigilante doesn’t have those bounds. In my opinion, he’s doing us all a favour.” Having seen everyone’s shoulders relax after having tensed up at Romanov’s words, she rose. “It’s late, we’re getting nowhere. I’m going to my apartment and get some rest. Let’s see what we can dredge up with some rest and coffee.”

Cora knew Loki had followed her out of the conference room. “You don’t have to pry so hard to try to read my mind.”

Loki startled. “I wasn’t trying to read your mind.”

“Maybe not, but you’ve been trying to figure me out the whole of last week. And it irritates you that you can’t get into my head.”

“How _do_ you keep me out?”

Cora chuckled. She liked Loki. He wasn’t immoral, just amoral. He did what he wanted to. The only difference between them was that while he did what he felt should be done, she followed a moral compass. “I was trained by the East Mafia to be an assassin.” She could see a mix of horror, intrigue and surprise cross Loki’s eyes before he composed himself. “Natasha Romanov found me. They all figured that I was trained like most assassins. But I was also trained to think in a way that kept telepaths from hearing what I was thinking.”

“I don’t know what to say.” And for once, Loki was honestly at a loss for words. He had found it very difficult to trust the quiet yet smart agent because he couldn’t figure her out, but her candid response to him made a surge of trust and affection surge through him. _Everyone has a past, he knew that. Having a past doesn’t mean someone is untrustworthy._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Loki didn’t want to believe his eyes. He watched the shadow from behind a wall. The familiar figure pushed a muscular man on his knees and said something he couldn’t catch. He could hear the man’s muffled sobs and could feel the _fear_ radiate off him in thick waves.

He thought about the last month that he and Cora had spent together. They were like a house on fire, and stolen moments turned to stolen kisses. He respected her when she had said that she wanted to be alone at night. He knew that she worked at night, allowing her mind to walk through cases without the interference of the team.

_Or did he know?_

_Was this her work?_

Even as betrayal coursed through him, he couldn’t help but admire her, the way the black suit fell on her frame, not tight like the Black Widow’s, but fitted enough to make space for her weapons while not getting in her way. He watched as her body gracefully stalked behind the now weeping, pleading man and bent at her waist, her hands caressing his face as she wrapped them around his head. She let her head drop near his ear and again whispered before there was a sickening crack and the man went limp in her arms. She let the body fall, looking at her work for a few minutes before walking away from the parking lot.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

“Loki, _talk to me_!” Cora flung her hands up in exasperation. Things had been good between her and Loki till he suddenly began icing her out. The first few days, she let it slide, assuming that he’d tell her what it was. But he hadn’t. And now he refused to even look at her. Thor patted her gently on the back when Loki turned his back to her and walked into his room. Breathing in and steeling her nerves, she followed.

“Loki, can you please tell me what is going on?”

He didn’t turn to face her as he lifted his shirt off. She watched his muscles bunch at the action. They remained tense even when he had dropped his shirt.

“Get out, Cora. We’re done.” His voice was a low whisper, and if Cora hadn’t been using her power to read the room, she would not have picked up on the hurt that he was trying to hide.

“Not till you tell me why.” She fought back. She barely believed it herself, but she had become really fond of Loki.

“Just leave, please.”

“No.”

It was then that something snapped in Loki. He turned, a fury blazing in his eyes and marched up to her, trapping her between his tall frame and the wall. He couldn’t look at her in the eye as he punched the wall, directing his rage away from her. He leaned over her and she could feel his hot breath on her head and the tip of her ears.

“Why?” she asked, her voice a quiet whisper.

Those angry eyes turned to her. “Because the girl I adore _has become a killer again, this time by choice._ ”

Cora felt her body grow limp. _He knew_. It was her turn to look away. His harsh breathing suddenly seemed too loud. She pushed his arm away in an attempt to get out from the position he had trapped her in, but he resisted effortlessly. He grabbed her wrists, shoving them behind her back, her chest pushing into his. He let his weight fall on her lower body, making her legs immobile.

“You keep asking _why._ How about you tell me why? Why you lied and said that you had left that life behind! Why you couldn’t be honest with me!”

Cora hadn’t realised how deep Loki had burrowed into her heart until she felt the pain ride off him in waves, eliciting a similar pain from deep within her, and regret. _Of course, he hated her now. They always do when they find out._

“You’re the God of Lies. How did you not see this coming?” She sneered while her emotional pain manifested into a physical one. He tightened his grip on her, making her bite her tongue to stop a whimper from escaping her lips. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

“Tell me why.” Loki growled over her head. She could feel his magic probe at the walls in her mind. She didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to hold out against him. His pain was tearing at her walls. Before she could plan her escape, she felt a tear slide down her cheek and in that one moment, her walls collapsed and her mind was occupied by Loki. He flooded her senses, trapping her so tight emotionally that he didn’t need to hold her back physically anymore. Cora struggled for a second before her last defenses collapsed and her mind opened to Loki.

Loki wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of memories and feelings that filled his head when Cora’s mind had opened like floodgates of a dam to him. Memories swirled around his presence, each one more horrifying than the last.

_There was an eight year old Cora, strapped to a rod that kept her suspended a few feet above the ground. A man in a mask walked up to her, the smell of stale cigarettes making her gag. It wasn’t till it touched her skin did Loki realise that the man had been carrying a taser. A scream tore through her small mouth. The man spoke. “We’re gonna teach you how not to scream.” The taser touched her skin again as the memory changed._

_She was fourteen. There was a man again, in a mask. She was on the floor and he loomed over her. “Stupid girl! Fight harder!” He grabbed her long hair and yanked her up before punching her in the stomach. She reeled, coughing up blood. Loki saw her reflection in the blood, another memory playing._

_She was sixteen. The man with the mask lay at her feet, a knife lodged in his throat, blood pooling at her feet. She had fought back. She knelt and slowly pulled the knife out. Flesh caught on it’s serrated edges. Once the knife was out completely, she wiped it on the edge of the mask. From the corner, she heard the familiar sound of a taser being charged before she her vision went black._

_Loki struggled to pull away from the memories but he felt tied up, restrained. When he looked up, he found himself in a cage, beside a seventeen year old Cora. He realised that it wasn’t his hands that had been tied, but hers. So had her legs. He followed her dead gaze to see a younger Agent Romanov look down at her, the barrel of a gun staring her in the eyes._

Loki fell away from Cora with a gasp. They had gone from standing to lying on the floor. Cora had her arms wrapped around herself as harsh breaths tore through her. The memory of eight year old Cora flitted through Loki’s mind. He reached for her, gathering her like she was loose paper in his arms. She didn’t try to struggle, allowing him to hold her as tearless sobs choked her.

He held her wordlessly, knowing he wouldn’t understand or feel the magnitude of the pain she was going through. When her breathing evened out slightly, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, mumbling an old incantation. Cora slipped into a dreamless sleep.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Cora woke, she was on a soft bed, being held against a hard body. She jerked away, her guard up, only to find Loki waking up beside her, sleepy eyes searching for her.

“Cora?” His voice was huskier than she remembered it being. And then it came back to her.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She shuffled away from him, expecting the hate to assault her sense at any moment. However, all she felt was deep satisfaction and _love_.

“It’s okay, darling. Come here.”

She watched him like a deer caught in headlights. This didn’t make any sense.

“Cora, love? It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He reached for her wrist, gently pulling her towards him. She fell against his chest. His arms wrapped around her back, pressing her chest to his, his head tucked beside her ear. Cora heard the door click open and she tried to struggle against Loki’s hold, but he didn’t let up.

“Loki, Cora. Conference room in ten minutes. The entire East Mafia has gone missing and so has their money, ammo and commodities.” Tony snapped his fingers at Loki who simply nodded, letting Tony know that they’d be there. He waited for Tony to leave before drawing Cora impossibly closer to him.

“They’re gone. I’ve made sure they can’t hurt anyone ever again. _You’re okay. I’ve got you._ ” And for the first time in sixteen years, Cora felt safe.


End file.
